At Christ Church Primary we believe that reading really matters and we aim for excellence in reading achievement throughout the school. Reading gives pupils the chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually; we provide a wealth of opportunities for pupils to read widely and often, enabling them to both acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know.

It is our aim that pupils at Christ Church Primary School read with confidence, fluency and understanding, using a range of independent strategies. They learn to take responsibility for their own learning, demonstrate a love of reading and a desire to read for enjoyment. Through reading widely and often, they develop a growing vocabulary and become adept at using their creativity, imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness. Reading is embedded throughout the curriculum and in all subject areas.

Our vision states that we wish our pupils to ‘aspire together through love’, fulfilling their potential and flourishing in every aspect of learning.  We hope that the children in our school will master the reading curriculum and experience the fascination that reading widely and often can bring.

Phonics

Throughout EYFS and KS1, a systematic approach to phonics is taught. There is a sharp focus on ensuring that children gain phonics knowledge and language comprehension necessary to read, and the skills to communicate, giving them the foundations for future learning. In EYFS and Key Stage One, discrete Read Write Inc. (RWI) phonics lessons are taught in homogenous ability groups. The RWI phonics scheme is used to teach early reading and ensure that children are able to decode efficiently – sounding and blending words quickly and accurately.  Fluency at each level is a strong focus.  Through direct teaching, all children participate by listening and responding, and by practising and applying what they are learning.  Teachers make sure that children practise using the knowledge they have been taught in previous lessons until they can use it automatically, thus freeing up their capacity to learn new knowledge.  Children also become increasingly familiar with the structures and features of narrative texts.

For more information on the Read Write Inc Phonics program, visit: https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parents/

Reading Lessons

On completion of our phonics program in Year 2, reading lessons build on previous reading skills and develop children’s independent skills, comprehension, fluency and stamina. Following the Jane Considine approach to reading, lessons are structured over a two-week timetable and within this, reading is taught daily.  Over the fortnight, children take part in a series of lessons: book talk, demonstration comprehension and independent comprehension lessons (detailed in our reading policy) and study a range of high-quality texts in depth; including a combination of whole texts and extracts.

Promoting A Love of Reading

All staff show passion and responsibility for promoting the love of reading throughout school. Staff show rigour in the reading curriculum, ensuring their pedagogy, reading environments and discussions around books are a high priority.  Staff know children as readers well and read books relevant to them and their community, they are able to recommend books to children and talk about books they have read with confidence.  Children are exposed to a language rich environment and this continues throughout the whole school.  All classes have a designated ‘Class Reader’ slot, where stories, poems and non-fiction texts are shared and explored through talk and children can show the ability to respond to whole texts personally.   Reading for pleasure is promoted and celebrated throughout school. Allowing children to read widely, each class has its own class library which is frequently updated with new and exciting texts. 

For more information about our reading curriculum, please read our reading policy and diary of reading events below.

Diary of Reading Events

Autumn Term

Book Fair

Our visit from the book fair is an exciting time for children and families to explore and purchase new books. Staff are always on hand to recommend suitable titles.   The school benefits from every purchase made so additional books can be bought for our school libraries.

Father Christmas Visit

At Christmas time, all children receive a visit from Santa to wish them a Happy Christmas and to receive a special gift of an engaging book to hook their interest and to add to their home reading collections.

Spring Term

World Book Day

We celebrate World Book Day by taking part in additional reading and book related activities throughout the day, covering all subject areas which feed children’s imagination. Even maths challenges are centred around reading. Children love to share their favourite books and talk about their favourite authors.

Summer Term

Year 6 Leavers 

Children leaving Christ Church are presented with a Children’s Bible at our church celebration to keep and cherish alongside happy memories of our school. 

Throughout the Year

Praise

Children may be chosen to receive a ‘Praise Certificate’ for their achievements in reading.  These are presented in a celebration class assembly every week. 

‘Moving Up’ certificates and ‘Responsible Reader’ certificates are presented half termly for those children progressing through a reading stage or showing qualities of a responsible reader at home or in school.

Once a month, a child from each phase receives a special ‘Reader of the Month’ certificate which is celebrated in class. This award can be gained through reading within any subject area.  

Children who have excelled in reading throughout a term may be chosen to receive a ‘Headteacher’s Award’ for their progress or attainment.  This is presented termly.

Stay and Learn Parent Workshops

Parents are invited into school to learn about our phonics and reading curriculum within a reading workshop.  Classes talk about the importance of reading for pleasure, how we teach reading in school and reading at home.

Poet/Author Visit

We invite a children’s author or poet into school annually. This is a fantastic experience for children to feel inspired and to learn from writers themselves!

Ongoing

Class Libraries and Competitions 

Each class has their own class library with a wide range of books on offer. Children are welcome to browse their libraries and select books to read for pleasure.  Class libraries run their own competitions and challenges throughout the year for children to participate in.